While the video game industry has frequently been called recession proof, just like every other industry, it was hit pretty hard by the recession. Luckily, if analyst Michael Pachter is to be believed, the industry will be seeing a comeback this year.

Despite falling sales, the number of high tier titles set to drop in 2010 will, according to Pachter, give the industry a much needed boost. And who does Pachter say will reap the most benefits? GameStop, of course. Not only are they the premiere video game retailer in the country but new games sales added to used game sales are sure to give GameStop exec’s wallets a bit of padding.

But anyways, with titles such as Splinter Cell: Conviction, BioShock 2 and Gran Turismo 5 launching early this year, the games industry will definitely be seeing some rise regardless of what Mr. Pachter has to say.

via gi.biz

When newscasters aren’t reporting on the dangers of the swine flu, they’re speculating on the recession, namely when we can expect to be out of it. As things worsened the video games industry grew despite declining currency values, rising unemployment rates and general low-level panic. Yet recently things have started to go the other way for the industry, with analyst Douglas McIntyre saying that this is an extremely bad sign, pointing to lower console and game sales than last year as a suggestion that most people’s discretionary income has dried up.

Don’t panic people, because there’s a rational explanation for all this. When Mr. McIntyre suggests that video games are a reflection of how much consumers have to spend, he’s correct, but he fails to account for the fact that unlike other discretionary spending such as food or apparel, the video game market fluctuates depending on what’s available. There’s a near continual trickle of video games released year round but the titles that really spur sales are fewer and often clustered around certain periods of time. In April 2008 both GTA IV and Mario Kart Wii were released, two powerhouse titles that gobbled up cash, while this year April didn’t have much to compete.

Falling console sales can simply be attributed as much to market saturation as low cash flow. In 2008 the Wii and PS3 had been out for around a year and a half. Now they’ve been available for two and a half, with the Xbox 360 having been on the shelf even longer. No matter how powerful, intuitive or flashy a console is eventually it’s going to hit the point where the number of people hoping to buy one drops off.

Right now fans are holding out for the big titles. E3 is on the horizon, meaning that many developers are holding back their big guns to debut at the event, thus achieving the maximum publicity. Games aren’t struggling, you’ve just got a lot of gamers playing through old favorites while they wait for the next big game instead of picking up less impressive titles.

A new study conducted by Iowa State University suggests that video games might be a little too popular amongst youngsters. According to their results, one in twelve children between the ages of eight and eighteen show signs of being addicted to video gaming. Unfortunately for the anti-video game camp there’s not much going on in this study that can’t be explained by the simple fact that children and teenagers are generally impulsive and hedonistic.

The study used a survey method and since the majority of other research is laboratory based there are few pre-existing sets of survey so they simply used a set of criteria used to assess gambling addiction. The study goes on to assess the two behaviors via the same rubric although the two behaviors are quite different, especially when one considers that gambling is a behavior restricted to adults and is generally engaged in with the ultimate purpose of winning money.

Many of the more commonly manifested symptoms of the ‘addiction’ the study points to are simply common traits of children and adolescents. They did find that there was a correlation between greater signs of video game addiction and poor school performance, but there have always been kids more interested in working on cars, playing sports, listening to music or a dozen activities other than studying for tests.

Some of the other ‘signs’ of addiction are laughable: ignoring chores in favor of games, suffering on an assignment or test because of excessive game playing, using video games to escape from problems or bad feelings. While it’s not commendable to spend time playing games instead of studying, the development of self control and good work habits is a crucial part of the adolescents development and is often not truly achieved until college or later in ones adult life.

When one takes into account the permissiveness of many parents nowadays combined with the self-gratifying focus of American society and the pleasure-focused existence of most teenagers, it’s not surprising that kids are playing more games than some might consider healthy.

Claimed to be more than just a video game store, Gamer Doc is showing great strides as an entertainment center, featuring “Gamer Centers” for Xbox 360(R), PlayStation3(R) and Wii(R), making it easy for customers to find the games, consoles and accessories they are looking for. Gamer Doc also sells flat-panel HD monitors and cables, offers console and disc repairs, and the knowledgeable staff can show customers how to hook-up their systems for optimum game play.

Designed to provide an enjoyable shopping experience for everyone, Gamer Doc customers who know what they want can come in and buy, rent, sell, pre-order or trade-in games, drop off a console or game for repair, and be in and out of the store quickly, while those who are new to gaming or want to browse, can take their time and have all of their questions answered.

“Our franchisees are very excited to be part of the video game industry, which continues to experience robust sales even in this sluggish economy,” Belanger said. “More and more consumers of all ages, from kids to parents to senior citizens, are choosing video games as the best value and the most fun for their entertainment dollar.”

(Source) Press

Though the medium of video games is relatively new its capabilities have increased faster than any other entertainment industry. Despite the huge and still growing popularity of gaming the medium still doesn’t get much respect. Many people scoff at the medium’s ability to tell a riveting, unique story, despite the fact that many video games deliver a much more intricately thought-out storyline and fleshed out characters than many films.

Dan Houser, creative vice president of Rockstar and head writer on GTA IV says he’s happy that the medium is still considered in its infancy: “…everything is growing and evolving as we go along and we’re still figuring out how to do stuff,” he told The Telegraph. When asked how long before he thought game writers would be given the same degree of respect as film and book writers he said: “I hope it’s long. It’s really fun at the moment because we’re not in any Academy and the medium’s not codified. There’s no accepted way of doing anything so that give us enormous pleasure because we can make it up as we go along.”